Robert Plant Releases ‘Rainbow’ Single and New Album Info

While Jimmy Page has been busy remastering the Led Zeppelin catalog, Robert Plant has been in the studio working on new material. Today (June 23), he released the first of those efforts, 'Rainbow,' which can be streamed above.

The track comes from 'lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar,' which will be released Sept. 9. After two albums that focused almost entirely on covers -- the Grammy-winning collaboration with Alison Krauss, ''Raising Sand' and 2010's 'Band of Joy' -- Plant wrote nine of the 11 songs for this new project with his band, the Sensational Space Shifters. The two exceptions are 'Little Maggie,' a traditional folk song, and 'Poor Howard,' an adaptation of Lead Belly's 'Po' Howard.' The last Plant record to feature his own compositions was 2005's 'Mighty ReArranger.'

"It's really a celebratory record, powerful, gritty, African, Trance meets Zep," Plant said in a press release. "The whole impetus of my life as a singer has to be driven by a good brotherhood. I am very lucky to work with the Sensational Space Shifters. They come from exciting areas of contemporary music...I have been around awhile and I ask myself, do I have anything to say? Is there a song still inside me? In my heart? I see life and what's happening to me. Along the trail there are expectations, disappointments, happiness, questions and strong relationships....and now I'm able to express my feelings through melody, power and trance; together in a kaleidoscope of sound, color, and friendship."

The album can be pre-ordered at his website, which includes a print of the cover and an immediate download of 'Rainbow,' with the promise of future advance downloads prior to street date. Plant is also releasing the album in the lossless FLAC format.

Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters are planning a tour of the United States in the fall. Dates are expected to be announced soon.